Page 20 of Sweet Home Louisiana

They all looked at each other and then started laughing.

“Oh, wow, you really are a Landry,” Tori said.

That sobered Maddie a bit.

Tori shook her head.“I mean, I know you’re not, but it’s clear there’s been an influence.”

Maddie took a breath and nodded.She couldn’t deny it.“Yeah, well, there’s plenty of crazy in my family, too.”She’d inherited it from her mom, but it washercrazy and she had to lock it down.

“I love this place,” Tori said, shaking her head.

“You do?”

“I’m from Iowa.Very regular.Very…normal.”Tori winced slightly.“I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

Maddie gave her a smile.Normalwasnice.She knew very well.“Just so you know, it’s not an Iowa thing.Iowa is fine.This is an Autre thing.Autre is…not fine.”Autre was a tiny village of enablers.It was very easy to start thinking that being impulsive and going with your gut and havingnofilter was normal.

It wasn’t.

“IloveAutre,” Tori said with a tiny frown.

Maddie sighed.They’d gotten to her.Tori was her one chance at having a friend who knew what the outside world was like.But they’d already sucked her in.Dammit.

It wasn’t Tori’s fault.Autre combined with sex with a Landry boy?Yeah, Tori hadn’t stood a chance.

But Maddie could survive.

It was only thirty days.

She just had to get a grip and then hold on tight for thirty freaking days.

Unlike Tori, she knew the risks here.Surely that gave her an advantage.

“She scare you off yet?”Josh came up behind Tori and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the side of her neck.

Tori looked at Maddie.“Honestly?She’s just made me love it here more.”

Maddie shook her head.She was definitely on her own here in the resistance.She opened her mouth to reply, but just then Cora came through the swinging door behind the bar, carrying a bowl.The smell of cheesy grits and shrimp hit Maddie and she swallowed hard.

She had to keep her hormones, her temper,andher freaking taste buds under control.

“Well, thank you for making her love it here even more,” Josh said to Maddie.He was watching her carefully over Tori’s shoulder.

Almost as if he knew that had absolutely not been her intention.

Just then Sawyer called, “Okay, let’s get going.”

Maddie swiveled on her stool and took a deep breath.Yeah, let’s get going.She had to convince them to let her sell.The sooner the better.She was already feeling little swirls of nostalgia.She had to spend thirty days here, but if she could prove that her selling was best for everyone, then all of this would be settled, and she’d feel back in control of her plans.Her life.

Maddie made her way to the table where the food had been laid out.Ellie was filling glasses with sweet tea and Maddie was already anticipating the taste.

She wanted Boys of the Bayou to be okay.They had to believe that.She didn’t want them to fail or go broke.She just didn’t want anything to do with it all.

That’s why she’d found them Bennett Baxter.She would never just sell her portion to a random stranger on the internet.She’d researched Bennett.She’d spoken to him on the phone.He knew the history of the business, knew the family, even knew their crazy stories.He’d, apparently, taken three swamp boat tours with the guys.He hadn’t let on who he was or that he was interested in the business, but he’d checked them out.He’d even agreed that Ellie’s boudin balls were the best he’d ever tasted.He was enthusiastic about the business and, as she’d told Owen, he had cash.

He was a great fit.

She took a seat and Cora slid the grits and shrimp in front of her.

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